The Triumph of Wit: A Study of Victorian Comic Theory

acceptance amiable apparently attitude belief Bridgewater Treatise Carlyle character Charity and Humour Coleridge Combe Comic Spirit comic theory comparison contemporaries contrast critics definition of wit Dickens eighteenth century emotion English Humourists essay example faculty fancy function of wit George Combe George Eliot George Meredith Harold Nicolson Hewett Watson Hobbes humorist humour and wit Hunt's indicate intellect James Sully Jane Austen laugh laughable laughter lectures Leigh Hunt Leslie Stephen literature ludicrous meaning Meredith mind mirth Molière moral nature nineteenth century novels organ of Wit perception perhaps philosophers phrenologists poetic poetry probably quoted reader reason resemblance ridicule risible satire Scott seems sense of humour sentimental comedy sentimental humour serious Shaftesbury Spurzheim suggested surprise sympathy Thackeray theory of comedy theory of incongruity theory of superiority things thinking Thomas Hobbes thought tion truth V. S. Pritchett Victorian Watson Westminster Review wit and humour witty words wrote